Human beings are not "imported"
2026-07-26_imported

#politics

Most public racism today takes the form of anti-immigrant sentiment. Its exponents assure us that there is no racial animus in singling out immigrants and declaring them culturally inferior. Relatively rare instances of violent crime get cherry-picked, despite a wealth of evidence that most crimes are committed by people who were born there.

A common talking point is the rhetorical question: "why are we importing people who [won't assimilate/are from backwards cultures/follow a dangerous religion/don't share our values/insert racist bullshit here]?" Well, fucko, we aren't. That would be human trafficking. People move around of their own free will, because that is a perfectly ordinary thing humans do.

This framing obscures the reality that borders artificially insert violence into a routine aspect of human existence. It suggests that forbearing to brutalize people is an active behavior. Immigrants are people, not cargo being shipped around. The state is not entitled to a final say in where people's lives take them.

The irony and final justice is that hostility to immigrants leads to cultural and economic impoverishment. It's how an entire society cuts off its nose to spite its face.

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